Happy Hilley homecoming with Athletes Unlimited at Wisconsin

By Zachary Schuster for VolleyballMag.com

MADISON, Wisconsin– With drops in 11 cities in much less than a month, the 2023 Athletes Unlimited exhibit trip has most likely seemed like a little bit of a speedy for the professional gamers.

“We basically had a week of preseason training,” Sydney Hilley claimed, “and afterwards it resembled, ‘All right, go play the best collegiate teams in the country.’

“It’s been fun competing with some of the top colleges and seeing all the fans who are so loyal to their college teams.”

And that specifically held true last Wednesday when Hilley went back to the UW Field House, back for the very first time because her group’s triumph over Minnesota that drove the Badgers to the nationwide semifinals and also on winning the 2021 NCAA champion.

With Hilley’s return obtaining hefty payment, it was just suitable that followers were aligned outside the Field House for 4 hrs on a gusting Madison springtime day to obtain prime seats for the cost-free suit in between Wisconsin and also the pros.

Hilley’s function?

“I think a 10,” Hilley claimed. “I knew the Field House would give me a warm welcome because we have the best fans in the country. But even during warm-ups when I came out, they were already going nuts and cheering for me.”

Wearing the light blue of the AU group rather than her traditional red and also white, Hilley, a VolleyballMag.com first-team All-American in 2021, dispensed 38 aids and also wemt on several offering go to lead her group to a 3-1 win.

“It brought back a lot of emotions because of how many times I’ve played there, and the fans have been great my entire career,” she claimed. “It was unreal. It was weird not wearing a Wisconsin jersey, but it was still super fun.”

Danielle Hart, Lauren Barnes and also Tiffany Clark were amongst Hilley’s previous colleagues present.

“The alums, they love coming back,” Wisconsin train Kelly Sheffield claimed. “They’re substantial Sydney Hilley followers, as everybody are, so I assume they were thrilled to see her play.

“I had to turn around and give a death glare to a few of them after Sydney turned and threw a ball down and they were all screaming. I turned around, and they were like, ‘Sorry Coach.’ ”

Sheffield claimed that of the objectives of the Wisconsin training personnel is to give an experience in the program that forces alums to go back to school, and also

“I think a lot of the players who come through here want to leave the program better than when they walked into it,” Sheffield claimed. “As an athlete, when you can look back at the end of your career and you’re saying, yes, I helped elevate the program.”

Hilley claimed for her, that dynamic has actually played out flawlessly.

“It was good to see them and get some pictures with them after. It’s weird because you spend so much of your life with them, and then it’s so different afterwards,” Hilley claimed. “The bonds you make when you’re a part of a program like that are life-long. No matter if you play with them for one year or for five, they’re going to be your best friends throughout your entire life.”

There was at the very least another large Sydney Hilley follower in the Field House last Wednesday that was possibly one of the most conflicted of them all.

Hilley and also existing Badger setter Izzy Ashburn go back, right to their training in the suburban areas north ofMinneapolis Hilley was 2 years in advance of Ashburn, however they obtained the possibility to play with each other at Champlin Park High School and afterwards once moreat Wiscconsin Hilley played a substantial duty in Ashburn’s advancement throughout those years both invested with each other.

“She’s always kind of taken me under her wing, especially as a setter,” Ashburn claimed. “We did a lot of our work together in high school. She would help coach me through things and kind of mentored me. We never really lost that relationship. I never thought I would come to a school like this, so when I got to commit and get two more years with her, I was really excited for my big sister to be around again.”

And for the very first time on contrary sides of the internet.

“It was honestly really weird,” Hilley confessed. “We would look at each other during the game and give each other a little smile. Obviously you normally don’t do that to your opponents, but we had so many memories and we’ve worked together for so long, it’s hard not to be buddies on the court. I’m just so proud of what she’s done, and I am going to continue to be one of her biggest fans.”

In addtion to the drop in Madison, the exhibits at the club qualifiers have actually been an emphasize forHilley Players and also moms and dads at the Windy City Qualifier in Chicago, for instance, crowded 5 deep around a court to see Athlete Unlimited play a split-squad exhibit. After, Hilley and also her colleagues invested near a half hr finalizing autographs.

“It’s exactly what I did when I was younger. I had these huge role models, and I would have been first in line trying to get their autographs and watching them play,” Hilley claimed. “Doing these kind of events where we get to interact with the youth and they get to watch us play, I think it’s good to be that role model for them who’s playing professional volleyball. But also it’s a chance to help grow the game in the U.S.”

Athletes Unlimited has actually played several of the leading groups in the nation, likewise making quits at Texas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Louisville and also Ohio State, with the suits tackling either an affordable layout or a style that blended the lineups, depending upon the schedule of gamers

Wisconsin returns virtually its whole lineup from a group that turned up 2 factors except a 4th successive look in the nationwide semifinals, so the Hilley- led AU group remained in for an official competition.

Hilley aided lead the Badgers to the NCAA Tournament round of 8 in her student year, and afterwards, starting in 2019, Wisconsin won 3 straight Big Ten champions. Wisconsin shed in the 2019 NCAA championship to Stanford, shed in the 2020 semifinals to Texas, and afterwards won all of it in 2021 for the very first time in program background by winning a remarkable, gripping five-set suit versus Nebraska.

It finished a run that began in 2013 when Wisconsin and also fresher setter Lauren Carlini made it to the NCAA last.

“I would give most if not all of the credit to the people who were before us,” Hilley claimed. “Carlini, Haleigh Nelson, and Courtney Thomas, that group really reshaped the culture, and then when we came in, the culture was already great and we just kept getting more and more talent and more and more grit, and that’s what finally pushed us over the top.”

“The expectations are different now from what they were when her class came in,” Sheffield claimed. “I think those are things any competitive player wants to do. It was important to those guys, and they certainly helped elevate the program to a totally different level during their time here.”

What her train provided for her was not shed on Hilley.

“Looking back, you constantly state that your mama was right while you were maturing, and also since I have actually left, it resembles ‘Kelly was always right.’

“He cares about people and knows how to push them to get to their max potential. He knows how to communicate to get the best out of you. He really cares about your development. He spent so many hours with me teaching me about the game, strategy, leadership. He can make you laugh like crazy, but he’s also the reason I am as good as I am now.”

Hilley finished from Wisconsin with a masters in used biotechnology in 2022 and afterwards hung out with having fun skillfully in Turkey for VakifBank in very early 2022 prior to heading to Puerto Rico last summertime.

But the lengthy professional period and also range from house was excessive. She returned house to Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, and also obtained a task functioning as a production researcher at a clinical diagnostics firm.

Not that she has actually shed her love for beach ball.

Hilley began training at the Minnesota Select club she bet. For that issue, training the leading 18s group showed an arbitrary possibility to maintain her beach ball abilities sharp.

“I would scrimmage with those girls a lot,” she claimed. “I was able to get a lot of reps in that way. And then I also put in work on my own.”

So when the possibility to sign up with the Athletes Unlimited trip existed, Hilley prepared to go. When her firm consented to permit her to function from another location, it was video game on.

“To be able to be in my home country and continue to play volleyball at a high level was a win-win for me,” Hilley claimed. “I was really happy this opportunity came up.”

And, this past Wednesday, so were the Wisconsin beach ball faithful.